After a decade as a cook and with his first child on the way, Donald VanVlack decided to become a welder—an abrupt change to a career he knew nothing about.

“Absolutely nothing,” VanVlack said on a recent Thursday morning at the Modern Welding School in Schenectady, where he is training. Minutes before, school vice president Jeff Daubert had given VanVlack, 28, his certification from the American Welding Society.

“Bottom line is this: I was sick of the late nights. Too much work for too little reward,” VanVlack said. “What I love about this is that you get instant results. I love what I’m doing, and the money is a motivator—not gonna lie.”

Click on the photo to start the slideshow.

The for-profit welding school in Schenectady opened in 1936 and has 60 students today. General Electric Co. employs at least 10 recent graduates at its new battery plant in Schenectady, which chairman Jeffrey Immelt will formally open on July 10 (more on that in this week’s print edition).

“Kids are brainwashed to go to a four-year college, so they can drown in debt and go work at Walmart,” Daubert said.

“These kids are not college material. So they either go on welfare and unemployment—or become part of the tax base,” Daubert said. “Their average entry-level wage will be $15 an hour, with benefits and all the overtime they want.”

Full-time tuition is $14,475 for the training, which takes seven and a half months. Evening classes cost $11,000 and take almost 11 months to complete. The school uses a third-party vendor to line up student loans.

(Enrollment is at a record 24 students in the evening classes, double the usual tally. Daubert sees that as a sign of an improving economy—more students needing night classes because they have jobs during the day).

In 2010, the U.S. was short 250,000 welders, according to federal data. The gap is growing as Baby Boomers retire and younger workers shy away from trades.

“We could have a wait-list a mile long and still not feed the industry,” Daubert said.

VanVlack has capitalized on his schooling. He’s had perfect attendance, except for the day he missed because of his daughter’s birth.

VanVlack expects to finish school in September and immediately update his file with an area boilermakers union local. He aspires to do pipe-fitting work.

His father is a mechanic, and his grandfather was a construction contractor. VanVlack wanted to cook, against the wishes of his mother, who wanted him to attend the welding school after graduating from Sharon Springs Central High School, a district in Schoharie County.